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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Skunk Harbor

Today is our anniversary. We met some years ago on a hiking trail in Tennessee. We’ve been hiking together ever since. Even our honeymoon was a hiking trip, some of it backpacking. So today, as we continue to celebrate our life together, it is not surprising that a hike would be part of the agenda.

Gene found the description for this hike to Skunk Harbor in a little book he purchased when we first arrived in Carson City--Best Easy Day Hikes for Lake Tahoe by Tracy Salcedo. Many of the hikes described in this book have some feature or another as the highlight of the hike. For Skunk Harbor, it was the wedding gift. How appropriate on this special day.

The hike was an easy 3 miles (round trip) down a forest service road to a beautiful, secluded cove on the east side of Lake Tahoe. The Newhall House is located in this cove. The house, which was built in 1923 during the Resort era at Lake Tahoe, was a wedding gift from George to his new bride. George, one of the rich, if not rich and famous, already had a very nice home on the western shore of the lake. Apparently, it wasn’t secluded enough for those special occasions, so he built this little “picnic house” for his beloved. All the construction materials were brought in by boat “at great expense”. I bet it was a great expense. Upon completion, the Newhall’s could just scoot across the lake in their boat for a picnic and fun in the sun at their own private beach house.

Today, the land falls within the National Forest holdings and the beach is now public. It is, however, still pretty secluded because there is very limited parking at the trailhead and, though the walk down the dirt road is easy, what goes down much come up. The only other access is by boat.

We have no other plans for today. We are staying in for dinner. We have a nice steak in the refrigerator which will be accompanied by a baked potato and steamed fresh asparagus and let’s not forget the bottle of Two Buck Chuck. Who says we don’t live it up every once in a while?

If you are interested, there is a more detailed description of our wedding day in the New York journal, June 10, 2008 entry--The Wedding Dress.

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About Us

Welcome to Blue Roads to Hiking Trails. We are Gene, Judi, and Peanut the cat, and we are any time RVers in our Four Winds Class C motor home. Our passion is hiking and exploring the great outdoors.
We are blessed in our retirement with good health and strong legs. Our desire is to see this country and to hike its trails. Our motor home allows us to be “at home” as we travel the “blue roads” to trailheads across America.
It is our goal through this blog to share some of our travel adventures, RV experience, hiking destinations, and, yes, some disasters in the hopes that we might be an inspiration and helpful resource for those who have an interest in travel, the RV lifestyle, and a love for the great outdoors.
We invite you to tag along with us as we travel this journey. Who knows where it may lead, but one thing’s for sure--it will be an adventure. We love to hear from our readers so please leave us a message with your comments and suggestions.